Wal-Mart Fined $7,000 for "Black Friday" Employee Death

Store worker trampled and crushed by shoppers

May 27, 2009

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On "Black Friday" last year, a temporary worker at a Long Island, NY Wal-Mart was trampled to death as he attempted to hold back a mob of about 2,000 shoppers who had crashed through doors in search of bargains.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) this week said the death was preventable and cited Wal-Mart for inadequate crowd management following the Nov. 28, 2008, death of an employee at its Valley Stream, N.Y., store. The worker, 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour, died of asphxyiation, according to the autopsy report.

OSHA's inspection found that the store's employees were exposed to being crushed by the crowd due to the store's failure to implement reasonable and effective crowd management principles. This failure, the report said, includes providing employees with the necessary training and tools to safely manage the large crowd of shoppers.

"This was an unusual situation but not an unforeseen one," said Anthony Ciuffo, OSHA's acting area director for Long Island. "The store should have recognized, based on prior "Black Friday" experiences, the need to implement effective crowd management to protect its employees."

As a result, OSHA has issued Wal-Mart one serious citation under its general duty clause for exposing workers to the recognized hazard of being crushed by the crowd. The citation carries a proposed fine of $7,000, the maximum penalty amount for a serious violation allowed under the law. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.

"Effective planning and crowd management could have prevented this incident and its grave consequences," said Robert Kulick, OSHA's regional administrator in New York. "Wal-Mart must now take steps to ensure that a situation such as this one never happens again."

Wal-Mart has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, participate in an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or contest the citations before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace for their employees.

The family of Damour has sued Wal-Mart for what they claim was a specifically engineered set of business practices that encouraged the crowd to stampede the store.

Workers' advocacy groups such as Change To Win are lobbying for passage of legislation that would increase the fines levied on companies for injuries or deaths of workers on the job.

"President Barack Obama has brought in a new team at the Department of Labor that is committed to ensuring that every worker has a safe workplace. But they can only do as much as they are empowered to do by the law. And the laws that govern worker protection on the job are shockingly toothless," said Change To Win's Jason Lefkowitz.

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